Region 5 names superintendent of the year

Liz Teitz

Published
11:14 am CDT, Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Port Arthur ISD Superintendent Dr. Mark Porterie meets with officials and Sen. Ted Cruz at Adams Elementary School in Port Arthur Friday. The 9th Avenue site sustained flood damage in Tropical Storm Harvey and is in the process of repairs and renovation. School officials expect students to be be back in the building after Thanksgiving and plans are in place to place them within other district schools in the meanwhile. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz paid a visit to the school and met with city and school officials Friday on a recent tour of his flood-affected district. Photo taken Friday, September 15, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise less

Port Arthur ISD Superintendent Dr. Mark Porterie meets with officials and Sen. Ted Cruz at Adams Elementary School in Port Arthur Friday. The 9th Avenue site sustained flood damage in Tropical Storm Harvey and is in the process of repairs and renovation. School officials expect students to be be back in the building after Thanksgiving and plans are in place to place them within other district schools in the meanwhile. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz paid a visit to the school and met with city and school officials Friday on a recent tour of his flood-affected district. Photo taken Friday, September 15, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise less

Port Arthur's Mark Porterie has been named the 2018 Region 5 Superintendent of the Year, Education Service Center Director Danny Lovett announced Wednesday.

Porterie, who has led the district since 2014, was praised by the PAISD board for his "selfless loyalty and dedication" to the district, and his efforts to improve academic achievement.

All of PAISD's campuses were rated Met Standard by the state in 2017, for the first time in four years.

"The approach of change was something that he knew started with him and made its way down to his administrative staff and then to a campus level," the PAISD board wrote in their nomination letter.

They also praised his efforts after Tropical Storm Harvey, which damaged one of the district's elementary schools and its administration building, in addition to displacing students and employees.

"One detail that goes unnoticed amid all of the work being done to get the district re-opened is that Dr. Porterie is among the group of Port Arthur residents whose home was destroyed during the flood," the board said. "His focus remains on the students and employees of the District and the community at large."

Superintendents are nominated by their board, and a panel of board members from different districts interview nominees to choose each year's winner.

Porterie will compete against Superintendents of the Year from other Texas regions to become one of five finalists for State Superintendent of the Year.